It is well known that the mooring floating docks (and attachments thereto such as “fingers”) to pilings is often complicated by changing tides. In some areas, such changes in tides—from low tide to high tide—may be so great as to cause great stress, friction and wear to both floating docks and the mooring poles which hold such docks in place. For example, a dock may be moored to one or more mooring piles utilizing chains, chain covered by PVC pipe segments or metal brackets. As tide levels cycle throughout the day, both dock and pile are subjected to wear and damage caused by the movement of each relative to the other. In addition, waves, wake and other water disturbances may cause additional damage to both pilings and docks by virtue of the impacts suffered therebetween. In addition, a floating dock secured to a mooring post may become dangerously tilted, damaged and/or capsized during tide changes if the means of securing the dock to the pile(s) does not allow for vertical movement along the pile(s) during such tide changes.
In regard to damage caused by movement between floating dock and mooring piles, such docks may be equipped with rubber molding, bumpers or other resilient materials designed to reduce such damage. However, the incessant changes in tide coupled with the action of waves and wakes, over time, will almost certainly cause the loss of such protective devices. Although such moldings and bumpers may be replaced, constant vigilance and maintenance is required due to the inherent deficiencies of such devices.
Floating docks are commonly constructed about a core of flotation material such as, for example, a foam material. With time, portions of such foam may break away, become saturated with water, or otherwise loose the buoyancy otherwise provided to the dock structure they support. As floatation material is either lost or damaged, the stability of the floating dock decreases thereby allowing the structure to list from one side to the other as weight, such as passengers entering into a boat, is applied to sides (and away from the midline) of such docks.
Even in regard to new docks, incorporating perfectly performing and placed buoyancy materials, listing does occur when substantial weight is applied along one side of the floating dock. Such listing also occurs, even in regard to docks whose total composition provides floatation (and which do not require separate floatation materials). Listing of floating docks can be dangerous in regards to the safety of passengers embarking and disembarking boats tied to such docks. In addition, equipment, food and other provisions placed in the vicinity of the edge of the dock may be lost during such listing.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/026,791 (the “791 APPLICATION”) discloses a mooring pole line attachment device providing safe mooring of a boat or other marine vehicle to a mooring pole by continually adjusting the height of line attachment points thereupon with changes in water level. In addition, the mooring pole line attachment device disclosed in the '791 application provides protection of mooring poles from rough contacts with boats moored thereto, while simultaneously affording protection to the boats. The mooring pole line attachment device is comprised of a buoyant base, cylindrical sleeve and at least one line engagement means.
The buoyant base is tubular in configuration and includes an outer surface and an internal core surrounding and defining a central bore. The core of the buoyant base includes an inner circumferential coiled tube (similar to the columnar sleeve, but of a more diminutive diameter. The coiled tube within the base includes an outer surface which is configured to demonstrate parallel grooves and rings similar to that found upon the outer surface of the cylindrical sleeve. The coiled tube is positioned and aligned to lie circumferentially about the proximal (or inferior) termini of the cylindrical sleeve. The coiled tube defines a central bore of a dimension sufficient so as to allow the sleeve—as discussed immediately above—to fit therewithin, substantially flush with the proximal (inferior) terminus thereof. Thus, the parallel rings and grooves formed on the surface of the buoyant base are aligned generally perpendicular to the parallel rings and grooves of the cylindrical sleeve. The outer surface of the buoyant base is advantageously covered by a tough, resilient cover, such as, for example, a polyvinyl, polyester or nylon composition. The cover may be fabricated of one or more sections and tied (or otherwise affixed) to the outer surface of the buoyant base. The inner core of the buoyant base is comprised of a buoyant structure such as, for example, a circumferential polyethylene, polyvinyl or polyester hollow tube positioned within the core. Additionally, the core of the buoyant base is filled with a buoyant material such as, for example, a polystyrene foam thereby imparting great buoyancy to the base.
As mentioned above, the buoyant base defines a substantially tubular, or, as it may be better described, a “donut-like” shape including an inner bore. The inner bore of the buoyant base is affixed to a proximal terminus of the cylindrical sleeve of the device. The cylindrical sleeve is comprised of a hollow tubular structure with an outer surface and an inner surface defining a central bore. The outer surface of the cylindrical sleeve is shaped and configured to include a plurality of continuous parallel grooves arranged circumferentially about said outer surface. In contrast, the inner surface of the cylindrical sleeve defines a relatively smooth surface. The cylindrical sleeve may be fabricated of any marine quality material such as, for example, a polyvinyl, polyether or polyester plastic. The sleeve may be also fabricated from a natural rubber or a synthetic rubber such as, for example, a nitrile rubber. The cylindrical sleeve includes a proximal and distal terminus. The proximal terminus of the sleeve and the inner bore of the buoyant base are especially configured so that the outer surface of the columnar sleeve will mate with the central bore of the base thereby allowing ease of fixation of the base to the proximal terminus of the tube via, for example injection and curing of the above-described polystyrene core material into the base during fabrication of the device (discussed in greater detail below).
The smooth inner surface of the cylindrical sleeve (and the central bore defined thereby) are especially sized and configured so as to allow the device (with cylinder attached to base) to slide easily over a mooring pole. The smooth inner surface of the cylindrical sleeve runs from the proximal (or inferior) to the distal (or superior) terminus of the device thereby allowing the entire device to be placed upon and slide up and down a mooring pole.
The annular (or parallel circumferential) grooves of the cylindrical sleeve serves two distinct purposes. During the fabrication of the mooring pole device, the outer surface of the sleeve is passed through the buoyant base section prior to injection of foam therein. At this point in the fabrication process, the buoyant base includes the above-described outer cover, an inner circumferential coiled tube (similar to the columnar sleeve, but of a more diminutive diameter). The coiled tube within the base defines a central bore of a dimension sufficient so as to allow the sleeve to fit therewithin, substantially flush with the proximal (inferior) terminus thereof. Thereafter, polystyrene (or other suitable buoyant) foam is injected into the base an fills both the base and the outer annular rings of the sleeve thereby effectively affixing one to the other. Thus the central bore of the sleeve becomes the central bore of the entire device.
The annular rings of the sleeve also provide line tied points of varying heights (in regard to water level) so as to accommodate boats of varying sizes and freeboard dimension. For example, and as shown in greater detail below, the device of the present invention may include a line engagement means comprised of an adjustable rope tied circumferentially about a selected annular groove. The adjustable rope is configure to include one or more loops through which mooring lines may be past in order to secure a boat. The adjustable rope is tied so as to allow it to be moved superiorly or inferiorly along the outer sleeve so as to accommodate the afore-mentioned varying boat dimensions.
The device disclosed in the '791 application may optionally include a mooring line storage device such as, for example, a simple velcro or snap lock nylon strap affixed near the superior portion of the device so as to allow mooring lines to be left high and dry at the pole.
The device disclosed in the '791 application is prepared for use as follows. The device is slid down upon a mooring pole, the central bore of the device being configured to fit about such a pole. Upon contact of the buoyant base with water surrounding the pole, the device begins to float. Thereafter, an annular ring is selected for placement of the afore-mentioned adjustable rope. Thereafter a mooring line may be attached to the adjustable rope. As the tide level changes, the device rises and lowers to accommodate such changes. However, the relative vertical positions of the annular ring (tie point) of the present device, and the position of a boats engaged cleats will not change. Therefore, changes in tides will not result in any stress or strain on mooring lines, boats or pilings. In addition, the cylindrical sleeve is highly efficient at protecting both boat and piling from collisions therebetween due to the fact that the sleeve circumferentially covers the pole and rises and falls with changing tides.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/699,181 discloses an apparatus for affixing a floating dock to a mooring pile wherein the mooring pile is described as located adjacent to the floating dock. However, utilizing outboard (piles located adjacent to a floating dock) rather than inboard (piles located within the confines and protruding through a floating dock) has certain inherent disadvantages. Firstly, outboard piles, being located adjacent to a floating dock, pose a partial obstruction to boats moored to the side of the dock where the mooring pile is located. Secondly, such outboard piles are exposed to direct collision with boats and other objects within the water surrounding the dock. It has been known to utilize mooring piles located within the confines of a floating dock as a means of anchoring such docks. In such instances, a portion of the top decking of the dock is typically “boxed out” to form a reinforced opening through which a pile extends from beneath the water bed underlying a body of water wherein it is set, upward, and through the opening within the confines of the floating dock. In such instances, the boxed out opening may be lined with a resilient material so as to cushion impact between the side of such inboard mooring piles and the boxed out opening of the deck so as to reduce the damage to both pile and deck caused by such collisions caused, in turn, by listing of the dock. Such known inboard pile systems do not provide any substantial reduction in dock listing since adequate clearance must be provided between the sides of the pile protruding through the dock and the surrounding surfaces of the dock adjacent to the pile. Close adaptation of an inboard pile to an opening within the dock deck would most probably result in destruction of the decking and/or pile during listing of the dock due to the leverage of the decking against the pile during such listing. What is needed is a means of affixing a mooring pile, located inboard (within the confines rather than adjacent to) in relation to a floating dock, wherein collisions and related damage to both pile and dock are minimized while, at the same time, imparting increased stability thereto.